Description:LGBTQI2-S Youth are overrepresented among youth experiencing homelessness. Once on the street, they are at high risk for abuse, substance use, and mental health issues. To learn more about best practices for minimizing these risks and serving these vulnerable youth, HRC embarked on a Listening Tour of organizations. The findings of this Listening Tour are summarized in this article.

Every year, an estimated 575,000 to 1.6 million unaccompanied youth between ages 12 to 17 experience homelessness in the United States1. It is estimated that between 20% and 40% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, or two-spirit (LGBTQI2-S) 2. These statistics can be sobering, especially when we begin to imagine a young person in our own lives facing the elevated risk factors of LGBTQI2-S youth experimenting homelessness, such as drug use, violence, sex work, mental health issues, and suicide.

In shelters, sexual and gender minority youth may be exposed to homophobic attitudes among staff and discrimination and harassment from their peers3. Hostile shelter situations lead many LGBT youth to life on the streets. Once on the street, youth who identify as LGBT are three times more likely to engage in “survival sex,” exchanging sex for anything needed than their heterosexual peers4. The literature also points to the extreme vulnerability of youth identifying as transgender. They appear to be at much greater risk for exploitation, drug abuse, survival sex, and HIV5.

Given the lack of specialized services available to this population, SAMHSA’s Homelessness Resource Center (HRC) embarked on a listening tour of programs serving LGBTQI2-S youth experiencing homelessness. While there are a host of valuable resources outlining promising practices for working with sexual and gender minority youth, SAMHSA’s HRC wanted to explore the practical ways programs are implementing strategies and best practices to serve these vulnerable youth. To view existing resources on serving this population, visit HRC’s Topic Page on LGBTQI2-S Youth. We found that successful programs create adaptive, flexible solutions to their specific challenges.

This resource package highlights key findings of the listening tour. Click the links below, or review the package contents below, to learn more about the tour, lessons learned, and steps to improve services at your agency.

Develop Culturally Competent Staff: Youth who identify as LGBTQI2-S and experience homelessness may face discrimination and misunderstanding when accessing services. Hiring the right staff and providing cultural and linguistic competence training can help improve service delivery.

Empower Consumers: Sexual and gender minority youth provide an invaluable perspective about their service needs and preferences, and can act as effective ambassadors to their peers.

Develop Community Partnerships: Connecting with agencies dedicated to LGBTQI2-S issues or homelessness issues can help provide positive role models and alternative safe spaces to LGBTQI2-S youth experiencing homelessness. Partnerships can also help providers with outreach.

Expand Public Awareness: Providing education about LGBTQI2-S youth and homelessness can help reduce stigma within communities.

PATH encourages discussion about the future of homelessness services in America. We invite your participation to ensure that a broad range of providers serving those experiencing homelessness are represented.

You will encounter opinions and perspectives from varied sources. These may not reflect the views of Homelessness Resource Center, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Institute on Homelessness and Trauma or any other partner organization.

Be Respectful: We welcome your participation, but any comments that contain vulgar or offensive language, personal attacks, are wildly off-topic or otherwise inappropriate will be removed immediately and the offending party risks losing the ability to participate.

If You See Something Inappropriate, Report It: You may report any comment as inappropriate. Reported comments are immediately removed, pending review, so please report responsibly. The Federal Government and the Institute on Homelessness and Trauma have sole discretion in determining what is and what is not appropriate.

Don’t Include Personal Contact Information: To protect yourself and the privacy of others, please do not include phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or other personally identifying information in your comments. Such material will be removed from the site.

Do Not Request Services: This site is for the exchange of ideas and information regarding service delivery to those experiencing homelessness. It is not an appropriate location to request services or make referrals.